Connecticut’s initial move into online gambling brought in more than $60,000 in bets the first two days and the new system, including financial transactions, worked well, Lottery officials said.
“We’re seeing what we consider after a few days very normal activity and a good test of the system so far,” Greg Smith, president and chief executive officer of the Connecticut Lottery Corp., told the lottery’s board on Thursday.
Bettors wagered on NCAA, NFL, Major League Baseball, preseason NHL, NBA, WNBA, golf, tennis and soccer.
“I think those are all probably predictable sports that you think people would be wagering on,” Smith said. “And so we’ve gotten all of those.
“There are scores of sports that people can bet on and a lot of different bet types. Very interesting data to look at.”
Bets also were placed on Russian table tennis and UFC mixed martial arts competition, he said.
“Everything that we hoped would happen on the platform has been happening and it’s been happening smoothly,” said Robert T. Simmelkjaer II, chairman of the Lottery board. “Accounts have been created, bets have been placed, deposits have been made all without any real drama.”
In the so-called soft launch of online gambling Tuesday on phones, tablets, computers and other platforms, hours of operation and the number of betting accounts were limited. The average bet was $45 and wagering ranged between 10 cents and a little less than $1,800, Smith said.
Rules governing sports betting in Connecticut impose different limits for each sport.
For the first few weeks before the launch, the state got about 3,000 responses to open betting accounts and in the first four hours of the soft launch, the state turned away bettors, he said. State officials limited gambling accounts each for 750 for the Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Connecticut Lottery Corp.
Those who were turned away are waiting to bet when full online gambling begins, which Simmelkjaer said will be Wednesday “if all goes according to plan.”
Three gambling sites are expected soon in New Haven and at Bobby V’s Restaurant & Sports Bar near Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and Stamford. Seven more locations will be established by the end of October, Smith said.
Getting all 10 up and running at once was not realistic because kiosks for the sites were not available, he said.
Legislation enacted this year by Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly authorized online gambling and sports betting in the casinos that began Sept. 30 and 15 gambling sites in the state.
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